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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What are the details about the iceman's sleeves and hat intended to convey?
(a) He thinks that Miss Coulson may be in love with him.
(b) He is trying to show respect for Miss Coulson.
(c) He is conceited and self-absorbed.
(d) He has lower-class manners.

2. Why does Mr. Coulson tell his servant to "bring an axe" (335)?
(a) He wants to break up the ice.
(b) He wants to cut down the flowers.
(c) He is threatening to kill the servant.
(d) He is joking about killing himself.

3. Which of the following literary techniques is used in the title "The Marry Month of May"?
(a) Synecdoche.
(b) Anaphora.
(c) Paronomasia.
(d) Paraprosdokian.

4. What kind of clam is a "chowder-doomed clam" (332)?
(a) One that is poisonous to humans.
(b) One that is destined to be eaten in soup.
(c) One that is confused by its surroundings.
(d) One that is personified as feeling worried.

5. What is clear in the first interaction between Mr. Coulson, Miss Coulson, and Mrs. Widdup?
(a) Miss Coulson has no idea that Mr. Coulson has romantic intentions toward Mrs. Widdup.
(b) Mr. Coulson is used to having to trick Miss Coulson in order to get his way.
(c) Both Mr. Coulson and Mrs. Widdup are aware that Miss Coulson will disapprove of them having a relationship.
(d) Mrs. Widdup is much more intelligent than she seems at first.

Short Answer Questions

1. Miss Coulson has a "lorgnette" (334). What is a lorgnette?

2. After the iceman tells Miss Coulson, "It'll be a pleasure to fix things up for you any way you please," the narrator comments "Alas for May" (334). What is implied by this comment?

3. With which motif is Miss Coulson most identified?

4. Why does Mrs. Widdup go into Mr. Coulson's room in the afternoon on the second day of the story?

5. How many years apart are Miss Coulson's and Mrs. Widdup's ages?

Short Essay Questions

1. In the passage where Miss Coulson stares out the window, the reader is told "The chirp of the sparrows gave her a pain. She mocked at May" (334). To what earlier passage is this a reference, and what is the significance of the reference?

2. What is the significance of the sound of the overturned chair after Mr. Coulson confesses his feelings to Mrs. Widdup?

3. When Mr. Coulson complains that no one in the house cares if he lives or dies, how does Mrs. Widdup's reply set the events of the story in motion?

4. What rhetorical purposes does O. Henry accomplish with his introduction of Mr. Coulson through a list of things that he "has," like gout, money, and a daughter?

5. What happens overnight that changes Mrs. Widdup and Mr. Coulson's fate?

6. How do words like "yaller" and "lawsy" in Mrs. Widdup's dialogue characterize her?

7. What happens when Mrs. Widdup makes an excuse to go into Mr. Coulson's room to speak with him after the ice is delivered?

8. When rhetorical purposes are served by the passage where the narrator says that the scent of flowers was carried in through the window and "fought" with the scent of Mr. Coulson's gout medicine?

9. What is Miss Coulson's plan to head off her father's budding romance?

10. How does O. Henry use dry humor to reveal the narrator's opinion about Mrs. Widdup in the narrative intrusion on page 333?

(see the answer keys)

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